That’s the hand-written version up there. In a nutshell, I wasn’t as crazy about the “stealthy” Lamy Charcoal (EF nib) as I thought I’d be, but that was undoubtedly due to the fact that the first pen just wouldn’t write. I shot an evening trying to get it going before I shipped it off for an exchange. Once the second pen arrived, it wrote just fine…fine as in “good” AND fine as in “a very thin line.” But I just didn’t find myself reaching for it.

Act II: Stephen Brown did an Inkcyclopedia video on the Private Reserve Tanzanite ink, and shortly thereafter, a bottle found its way into my online shopping cart. What a great pairing…the matte finish of the Lamy coupled with the purpley-blue (or bluey-purple) pop of the ink. Okay separately. Great together.

The body isn’t what I would call a true black. To me, it looks like more of a deep espresso. This Lamy is very lightweight and sports the signature clip in black, as well as an all-black nib. Understated and pretty cool.

Iconic clip

The stealthy nib

The Tanzanite ink is a super color– very fun, but not out of place in a business setting. It can party, AND put in a full day of work. Best of both worlds. I LOVE it.

Jar of awesome

The ink bottle is very no-nonsense, with a nice wide opening so you can see what you’re doing when you’re filling your pen. I appreciate that, as do my counters.

One is subtle. One not so much.

Like lobster and butter (mmmmmm), this is a pair that was meant to be together. Where together? Why on the FRONT burner, of course.

Wow, that’s a pretty color (like a deeper taken on the freebie Lamy ink cartridge that comes with the safari, which is not all that bad with a wetter nib).

I also had (well, still have) a problem with the Safari EF nib I got I, it did write but it also skipped 50% of the time. After 6 weeks of heavy use, it no longer skips but the flow is still very faint and inconsistent. Anyway, the problem is solved when I swap it with a fine nib, which (beside costing me extra money) is a little too thick for my liking.

Well, I think it’s just their quality control with the cheaper models (mine is the regular steel nib), as I have seen plenty of similar complaints in two Chinese pen forums (where people are more likely to buy EF because there are more strokes in the characters we write). Since I have rotten luck in general, my very first Lamy Safari is a defective one.

I am tempted to get another one after seeing your writing sample but I kind of don’t want to pay more to try my luck…So I guess Japanese fine nib is the way to go.

Very good pen! But could help but notice your handwriting! My handwriting is disgusting and have been trying to improve… I was just wondering if you had any tips on what i should do to achieve a similar type of writing style to yours?